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Katherine Yu: ‘It seems like a replay right in front of my eyes’

'It takes so many lives to come up with these recommendations,’ says Katherine Yu, whose brother Edmond was shot by police in 1997. The inquest into Yu’s death led to a slew of recommendations to improve police handling of people with mental illness.

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Why does this keep happening?(Lucas Oleniuk)

Tues., Oct. 15, 2013

Edmond Yu was shot by police on a TTC bus on Feb. 20, 1997.

The 35-year-old former medical student suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He’d stopped taking his medication and had been evicted from his home several months earlier.

He struck a woman before climbing on the bus. Police arrived, and after he brandished a hammer, an officer fired six shots at him. The three bullets that hit him ended his life.

The inquest into his death resulted in a slew of recommendations on how police deal with those who are mentally ill.

But when Edmond’s sister, Katherine Yu, braced herself to watch the YouTube video of the July 27, 2013, shooting of Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar, it was like watching a replay of what happened to her brother, 16 years earlier.

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She spoke to the Star about her brother.

I remember right before midnight a call came and someone told me there are the police outside and they are right at the door. I thought he was just kidding. But he told me he’s not and then I went and (the police) were right there.

And they told me what had happened. And that’s how I found out.

During Edmond’s inquest they tackled a lot of issues and there are, I can’t even remember how many, recommendations they proposed. But the question I have is, how many are being implemented? Especially through all these years, there’s all different kinds of inquest. I do believe that there’s still a whole bunch of recommendations. Where are they now?

Because you know when I watched the video on YouTube, I can see so many similarities. And the issues that they talked about during (Edmond’s) inquest is exactly what happened during Sammy’s shooting.

I do believe among all of those recommendations, it’s not just the money, the time. It takes so many lives to come up with all these recommendations — instead of putting (them) away, some need to be done, that’s one thing I would like to see.

When Yu heard about the police shooting that left Yatim dead, she waited to learn more details.

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I didn’t have a lot of reaction except that I was sad. Then the next night I remember I was home late and I watched the late news and that’s the time (I saw) the video.

Oh, that changed everything. Because what happened 16 years ago, it seems to be like a replay right in front of my eyes.

And especially when I watched the other video on YouTube and I (could) have a closer look, I (could) repeat looking at that and one of the videos that really bothered me was when Sammy was down on the floor and then his legs were still moving but I could still hear the shooting still going on. And that really bothers me.

While Yu said she’s read news reports about the dangers of Tasers, she thinks they would provide another option for police — one that could have saved her brother’s life.

Instead of just the lethal force, that’s at least another option they can use … Instead of just the gun, just for Edmond’s situation, the police emptied six bullets and three went through his head. And for Sammy the police emptied nine bullets and (eight) went through him.

At least a Taser is an option not as lethal as the gun.

Yu relives her brother’s tragedy over and over and over, each time police shoot someone with mental illness. And she speaks about it. It’s not easy, she said, tears welling in her eyes. But it’s a duty.

I have a responsibility, not just to be the voice for my brother, but as a citizen.

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